Baby buttercup is here!!!!!

Just as I had placed my last order of chi-chi fairies from Stamping Bella, that sneaky Emily brought out even MORE fabulous images! So a few days later I placed my order for more and I have been patiently (or not) waiting for them to arrive and today was THE day! Once I saw that UPS had my stamps out for delivery I wanted to shout “BABY BUTTERCUP IS HERE! BABY BUTTERCUP IS HERE!!!”

Ooooooooh I am in love….again! I have to admit that I was really hesitant to order Bella’s. First, the shipping is high, second it’s unmounted rubber without cling, and thirdly the images are smaller and tight which I thought might make it less enjoyable to color. But I am happy to say that all of those worries are gone! I have justified shipping because I LOVE everything that I have ordered. And I mount them on EZ mount…..an extra minute before stamping. And these are some of my favorite images to color. I swear they just seem to come to life as I color! If you haven’t gotten any because of similar worries then I suggest you take a deep breath and jump on in!

We have no appointments outside of the house today and I am so excited! I hope your week is going great!

Details:

Stamps: Baby buttercup-Stamping Bella, Mixed Messages- Papertrey
CS: sweet blush & white-PTI, Nana’s Nursery-DCWV
Ink: adirondack black, copics
Accessories: sweet blush ribbon, slit punch, buttons from MM, nestabilities, dimensionals, Prima from ‘Tea and Silk’ Paper kit from Jacksonbelle

Bloggers Challenge Friday……Absolutely Fabulous!

It’s time again for the blogger’s challenge and this week is appropriately a mother’s day card. I knew I wanted to use one of my many new Bella’s that I just got. I had held off for sooooo long in getting any but then all these sweet fairies kept calling my name and I just HAD to cave in!

I love her! I added little white dots to her petticoat layer, I wanted it to look like tule. And she has lots of shimmer and sparkles on her dress, wings and flowers from a mixture of spica pens and a stardust pen. The paper is Basic Grey’s Sugared from Jacksonbelle which I like so much more then I expected. I knew I would love it, but these colors are so “me” and I want more of it! The sentiment is from Papertrey’s set, “Mixed messages”. It’s one of those that I never know why or when to use it and I thought for a mother’s day card it worked. Because Mom’s are ABSOLUTELY FABULOUS!!!

I’m off to watch Survivor and possibly Top Model…….thank goodness for TiVo!

Deets:

Stamps: Eloise Greengrass- Stamping Bella and Mixed Messages- Papertrey Ink
Cardstock: Olive, pink- Stamping Up…..Papertrey Ink white……Basic Grey Sugared
Ink: Adirondack pitch black…… olive and pink- Stamping Up…….. Antique Linen distress ink
Accessories: Spellbinder nestabilities, copics, stardust pen, sponge, rhinestone’s

What a fun surprise!

I was checking Nichole’s blog this morning and saw that my project for last month received an honorable mention! I had uploaded this to the PTI gallery and then forgot to show it here, so here it is!

I made the box using my scor-pal to hold 4×4 note cards. I made 2 of each pink and aqua to fit inside the box. I thought it would be a cute shower gift or just something fun for a couple on their anniversary.

Thanks Nichole!

PICK ME!!! PICK ME!!!! PICK ME!!!

Ok, I did it AGAIN………I got an honorable mention from Nichole Heady about my baby diaper bag shower favors! This is my 3rd month in a row of getting an honorable mention…..WOW!!!!

Nichole is again letting people vote for their favorite project on her blog, so if you wouldn’t mind………could you vote for ME?!? (Of course if you go there and REALLY feel that someone else did I better job, I guess you could vote for them. *wink*)

I have no idea how long you have to vote, she said she will announce it Tuesday. So HURRY on over and vote for me! Go HERE to vote.

A big thank you to Nichole! And to everyone who votes!

Stumped? Make a flower!

I have a lot of sentiments in my stamp sets that I just never use. There are 2 reasons,;

1) I never use the set in the way it’s inteded with the sentiment that comes with it. (A lot of my SU sets are like this)
2) Although the words may be nice they make it more challenging to use on a card.

So I decided to do something about those sentiments that I would usually just let lay around uninked. I decided to make a card with a large and bold flower with the sentiment in the middle. So I got out my oval coluzzle and went to work! After much sponging, bending, curling and adhesive this is what I came up with:

“Live your bliss”……………I don’t have anyone that I feel like I can send that to. It’s a nice thought but unless I was making a card for someone who got a new job, or quit their job or did something with their career or life then I wouldn’t use it. So somehow when it’s paired with the flower it just seem’s a little more general and just a lovely thought.

And I just LOVE the color combo! I used white CS and then sponged blush first and then on the edges ruby red. When I laid it on top of the celery base I sighed. And then when I added the scrolling stamps in white with EP then I sighed again. It just makes me happy looking at it!

Then there is this sentiment “Absolutely fabulous”. I immediately think of the British television show! Comedy Central used to play it here, and maybe they still do I just haven’t checked! But I used to LOVE watching that show, it totally cracked me up. So I see the sentiment, I start thinking of the show, I laugh to myself, and then I get stumped on how to make a card with it!

And this is another sentiment that I just don’t know if I’d ever find the right time to send it to someone. Maybe if they gave me a present and I liked it a lot then I could send this as a thank you…………….HEY if you want to try it out and send me a present then we can see if this works!

For this card I was inspired by Ava’s outfit today. For her birthday she scored a lot of new clothes. Gymboree has an adorable line of tulip clothing and Ava LOVES tulips. Every year in April we drive to the tulip festival in La Conner. Just fields and fields of every color! It is sooooo beautiful!

Her shirt has sequined tulips on it with ribbon stems and petals, so I tried to recreate them on the card. I didn’t want to use sequins so I just used a small heart, upside down to add a little something to it.

And that’s all I’ve got tonight! I hope I’ve inspired you in any way to use those sentiments you might leave sitting and unused. I’m just not sure that you could ever go wrong with flowers, unless it’s for a man!

Have a wonderful Tuesday! My morning is super busy but hopefully later when the girls are asleep I can sneak downstairs!

A sweet little shower idea

I’ve had babies on the brain lately. I LOVE my keepsake gift-box and just think it’s so precious! And with keeping with the baby theme I played around with some new stuff and came up with a shower favor idea!

Ever since I got a scor-pal I have been CRAZY and wanting to try every kind of box and bag I can find! And I have also used it to come up with a couple of my own! I noticed that the sentiments in Papertrey’s “Mixed messages” were adorable and petite making them perfect for favors. So here is what I made, little baby diaper bags!

AREN’T THESE CUTE?!?!?!

With some simple measuring and scoring I made the bags large enough to carry 2 nuggets that sit vertically side by side. I used my nugget label from the “Holiday treats” set and coordinated the pink polka dots from the lining of the diaper bag to the treats themselves! I used 2 of the baby sentiments on the nuggets and then I saved the 3rd for the bag.

The closure on these is what “get’s” me! I used the 2 smallest oval nesties and stamped and then adhered them together and to the bag. Then I used a little mono glue and let it dry so that it is repositional! The flap closes and holds the nuggets securely but opens easily and doesn’t ruin the paper! And the handle of the diaper bag is very secure and you can pick it up. I think an army of these on a table at a shower would be adorable!

It is not often that I feel really great about my projects, most of the time I like them just fine. But these I LOVE! And I hope you like them too!

And a bit of an update about our meeting yesterday at the UW……..

We met for the 2nd of 3 weeks for more testing. They did some new tests, but also retested some of the things from last week. She LOVES blocks and they brought them out early and then had a really hard time getting her to focus on the other tasks. So this time they did everything else first and THEN the blocks. Worked really great!

And not to our surprise she is on the autism spectrum. If they had said she wasn’t I think I would have puked, because then I wouldn’t know what the heck is wrong with her. We have been accepted into the research program, we are the 14th family out of 36 that will be chosen. I am mixed with extreme gratitude and also sadness because of that. I have a really hard time knowing that there are many families that won’t be able to get the care their child needs because of cost. There has to be a better way to take care of everyone.

So next week is the last of the testing and then we will find out which group we are in. One group assesses and monitors us and gives us resources to find our own therapy, while the other group not only assesses and monitors us but also provides the 25 hours a week of therapy. We know that no matter what she will get treatment, but honestly it sounds so much nicer and easier for it to be provided. Sean and I are praying that we get the treatment and can start as soon as possible. So if you would like to send positive thoughts or prayers our way then it would be greatly appreciated.

We also have to do some genetic testing to make sure she doesn’t have fragile X syndrome. If she does then she won’t be accepted into the program. But they told us that it is very rare and mostly occurs in boys so they aren’t too concerned. But it is pretty stressful thinking that we will need to get her blood taken. She is extremely strong, when we took her to the podiatrist to get molds of her feet taken it took BOTH Sean and I holding her to get her still enough to do it. Even then the Dr. said that she was the strongest 2 year old he had ever seen. So if she was like that for some clammy bandages on her feet then I feel like I might need a good bottle of tequila after her blood is taken. (not really, I’ll probably just buy some stamps!)

Well that was a lot of information and rambling. But I thought I would keep you posted. This whole baby thing is a bit sad for us. We were going to try to have a 3rd baby this Spring, but with the new diagnosis of Audrey it is put on hold. We want to make sure that she is taken care of before we add someone else into the mix, and also not short change Ava either. But we have been wanting a 3rd kidlet since Audrey was about 6 months, so not knowing if we will ever have another one is hard for me. So partly I have been getting my baby fix by making baby items, and in a small way it helps.

Ok, enough from me tonight. Happy Friday everyone, it’s the weekend!

Another little something….

To say that I’ve been a busy bee is an understatment. This past weekend Sean watched the girls so I could have uninterupted days to get things done. I had a lot of fun working on the MFT releases but I also had other ideas that I wanted to make as well.

I still have a few more that I haven’t gotten to make, and the ideas just keep coming! So hopefully you will all enjoy looking at my little things, whether they are gift containers or cards or 3D projects!

So for this I covered a clear top tin with a strip of decorated cardstock, and wrapped the lid with a delicious red velvet! Inside I was able to tuck in 5 hershey kisses with custom messages!

I just love this little box! And I think it’s a lovely way to give a Valentine treat to a friend or someone you don’t want to proclaim your undying love to. Sometimes Valentine cards or gift holders can be too mushy but I thought this was a good alternative.

I’ll have a few things to show you over the next few days as I work on other commitments. So I guess it was a good idea that I didn’t show these as they were made!

Thursday morning we are heading back to the UW autism research center for Audrey’s official diagnosis. And to find out if we qualify for their program and if so which one. There are 2 different treatment options so we wont find out what were doing until tomorrow. If you can, please keep us in your thoughts. I desperately want Audrey to get the treatment she needs and since there is a chance that we might not get accepted it worries me a teensy bit.

I’ll be back tomorrow (Thursday, I’m writing this LATE Wednesday night) with something else to share and an update on our diagnosis. Have a great day!

Want to see something I made?

That’s a pretty odd question, because if you come to my blog then chances are you want to see what I’ve made! But I thought I would ask and pretend to hear you all shout “YES!”.

I don’t know how popular these are, if I missed the boat but it was new to me so I made it. In fact, I was up past midnight making this puppy, because once I start a project I can’t just leave it half done and go to bed. 

I decided to make this a keepsake giftbox for a baby. There are small boxes for little treasures, like a lock of hair, or the bracelet from the hospital, or a teeny tiny sock. I also designed it with keeping something from the parents in there as well, like their matching hospital bracelets.

Here is the box closed, it folds up on itself:

And here it is open:

I just love it! I think it’s so pretty, and obviously is made for a girl. But it’s just so soft and lovely, great for keeping out on a shelf in the nursery.

So are these really “old” and looking at this made you yawn?

Papertrey Saturday

Last night I had a ton of inspiration with my Papertrey set “My Punny Valentine”. I had started a project about a week ago and decided to finish it last night, but before I could I had 2 new ideas pop into my head. So I decided to put those 2 ideas to paper and then finish my project! Im really excited about how these turned out!

First, I used the branch and leaves from “Take a bough” and made an acorn tree for the squirrel!

Then, I flipped the branches vertically and made a berry bush. The background was stamped with the circle from ‘borders and corners monogram edition” and embosses with white EP.

And then finally I finished my extra special Papertrey project! I decided to make what I am calling a “Pie charm”, like a wine charm but for your pie! Because, how many times have you been to a dinner party and put your pie down and then couldnt find it on the table with all the other pies? Hahahaha! No, it’s more like a necklace almost, just a really cute accessory for the pie to make it that much more special.

So, I stamped the pie onto the papertrey white CS and embossed the crust to make it look baked and golden. Then I enclosed it in glass and soldered it. I attached blue gingham ribbon to the loops and tied it around the pie. I thought this would just make the pie so much more gift-like, a little personalized tag.

And because I FINALLY got myself a scorpal, I was able to make a recipe box to go with the pie! I stamped the scroll from “Piece of cake” in red and then stamped the large single flower from that set as well in the center in blue ink. Then I made the box out of my custom patterened paper. I then scalloped the edges of the top of the box and used some gingham ribbon to coordinate with the pie charm around the top. Then I made a recipe card with the pie recipe to tuck inside.

Now who wouldnt LOVE to get that pie gift?!?!?! And I cannot believe that I made my own box! No instructions, just measuring, scoring and folding! I feel like a super genious right now, LOL!!!

And now, that the pie project is finished my poor mom can finally have a piece! I’ve had the pie in the house for 2 days while I finished the gift set and she has been eyeing it whenever she comes over! It’s time to dig in!

Have a wonderful Saturday, and I’ll be back later with some fun stuff!

ETA: I wanted to let you all know that the silver I use for soldering is lead free, so there is no worry about food safety or the safety or the pie charm.

Berry-licious!

The color challenge was posted very early yesterday and after the kids went to sleep, Sean went to run a few errands. So I of course hopped down to my craft room to make a card!

The colors are real red, certainly celery and taken with teal. All colors I like and use but I dont think I had put them together before, and I really like it! It’s so fresh and Springy and made a nice setting to break in my berries from “My Punny Valentine”!

At first I only had teal sponged on this main image but then decided to throw caution to the wind and make a layer with it too!

That tag is one I’ve had for 6 or so years. I really need to stop hoarding so much.

I hope you all have a relaxing New Years day. I have a late training session since my gym doesnt open til noon today. But after that I dont think there’s much going on……just chillin’.

The DEETS:

Stamps: My punny valentine, year round puns-papertrey
Ink: real red, certainly celery, taken with teal-SU
CS: white-papertrey   celery & celery DSP, real red, teal-SU
Accessories: white gel pen, sponge, 5/8 red GG ribbon, dimensionals, tag from stash, corner rounder punch